An official of the court in Hanoi said Vadim Scott Benderman arrived in Vietnam in 2014 and taught English at a foreign language training centre and played music at a bar in the city's Old Quarter.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of court policy, said Benderman, 45, was arrested last June after being caught abusing a boy at his rented house.

The official said Benderman admitted in the half-day trial that he lured the homeless boys, aged 14 to 16, to his house after meeting them at a lake in central Hanoi and paid them $10 to $15 to have sex. He said Benderman told the court that he abused each boy from one to three times between January and his arrest in June.

"The defendant's crime was very serious for society," the official quoted the verdict as saying. "It infringed upon the normal development of the boys."

Child sexual abuse carries a penalty of three to seven years in jail. Benderman was given less than the maximum sentence because of his sincere confession, the official said.

The court also ordered that Benderman be expelled from the country after serving his sentence, the official said.

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